You can’t miss it!

Free. Your Top 10 Sustainability & Energy Posts.

Your name

Your email

Your company

Your position


You can unsubscribe at any time (read our privacy policy.)

Join us

Eni faces climate lawsuit over decades-long fossil fuel advocacy

By illuminem

May 13 2023 · 1 min read

Illuminem Voices
Environmental Law · Sustainability Law

To bring you all sustainability information in one place, we are testing a new type of short summary called “illuminem Briefings”. Please let us know your feedback!

🗞️ Driving the news: Italian oil company Eni faces its first climate lawsuit, with Greenpeace Italy and advocacy group ReCommon accusing the firm of lobbying for more fossil fuels despite being aware of the associated risks since the 1970s

  • The plaintiffs aim to compel Eni to reduce its carbon emissions by 45% by 2030

🌎 Why it matters for the planet: The lawsuit adds to the growing number of legal actions against major oil companies for their role in the climate crisis

  • It highlights a pattern of deception and harm, with oil majors allegedly aware of the risks but downplaying them and increasing oil and gas production.

🔭 The context: The lawsuit is inspired by similar cases in the Netherlands targeting Royal Dutch Shell and the Dutch government, which resulted in more ambitious emissions reduction targets

⏭️ What's next: Greenpeace Italy and ReCommon plan to file the lawsuit in the civil court of Rome by May 19 and request hearings to start in November

  • Eni has stated that it will prove the lawsuit is "groundless" and, if needed, demonstrate its correct approach to decarbonization in court

💬 One quote: "These findings reinforce and add to the pattern found in previous research: oil majors understood the catastrophic effects their products would have on the world, yet failed to warn the public, concealed their knowledge, denied the problem, and obstructed efforts to solve it" (Ben Franta, Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Sustainable Law Programme)

⛏️ To dig deeper: Discover what fake suede and the future of impact investment have to do with one another from our illuminem Voices F. Heeb and H. Walkate

Did you enjoy this illuminem voice? Support us by sharing this article!

About the author

illuminem's editorial team - delivering the most effective, updated, and comprehensive access to sustainability & energy information.

Follow us on Linkedin & Twitter

Other Illuminem Voices

Galit Palzur
Mar 31 2023
To achieve our climate targets it's time to revive the use of bans
To achieve our climate targets it's time to revive the use of bans
Johannes Novy
Mar 27 2023
What Robert Moses can teach us about today's struggle for sustainable mobility and liveable cities
What Robert Moses can teach us about today's struggle for sustainable mobility and liveable cities